Up a lush green hill, behind Granville High School’s football fields, people gathered around a small grove of 29 freshly planted white oak trees – dubbed the Grad Grove.
The Grad Grove, which began as an AP Environmental Science class project, is a commemorative space that allows GHS students to donate a tree to be planted in their honor before they graduate.
It began as a “Take Action” project led by GHS students Ava Rose Pastis, Lily Kronk, Teresa Collins and Izzi Fuller, who proposed the “Grad Grove” project in early 2024 as a testament to sustainable action, regrowth and community connection.
After nearly two years of work, the students and recent alumni celebrated the opening of the grove on Sunday, April 27, marking the end of a high school project and the beginning of a legacy.
“We want to create a small, connected community with these trees,” Kronk said.
Initially, the grove was packed full of invasive plant species, but with the help of the Ohio Department of Natural Resources, it only took a couple of days to clear out the overgrowth.
After Collins and Fuller graduated in 2024, it became somewhat of a passion project for Pastis ‘25 and Kronk ‘26 as they took up the grunt work. By fall, they knew they needed to get started on the planting.
Working closely with 1500 Trees, a group dedicated to planting native trees in Licking County, they planted the first saplings in October 2024, just before the cold season hit and the ground froze over.
Over the winter, the work didn’t stop. Pastis and Kronk continued caretaking the space and marketing in preparation for the opening celebration on April 27.
The grove will primarily hold oak species. The first 29 saplings are white oak trees, a species native to Ohio and vital for maintaining a biodiverse ecosystem. The 30th tree, which was planted during the ceremony by Pastis and Kronk, is a red oak.
“Lily is good at organizing and making things happen, and then I’m good at conceptualizing and creating, so we’re a good team,” Pastis said.
When Jim Reding, ecology and environmental sciences teacher at GHS, created the “Take Action” project in 2009, his goal was to help students recognize their potential for making tangible, lasting impacts on the environment in their community.
“Your voice is muscled,” Reding said. “The more you use it, the stronger it gets.”
The “Take Action” project has inspired dozens of community-oriented projects, and was instrumental in the development of the land lab at Granville Intermediate School.
Read more: As development moves across farmland, a local land lab built by students is an ‘oasis’
Through this project, Pastis and Kronk gained experience and confidence in working with local organizations towards a common goal of sustainability.
In collaboration with Ryan McGuire and Granville Center for the Arts, Pastis and Kronk created a new sign for the grove. Just a week before the opening ceremony, they uprooted the old, rotted sign and replaced it with the brand new aluminum sign.
As GHS alumni donate native trees to be planted, the grove will serve as a commemorative common space for the community to return to.
“It’s something in the community that’s going to stay there forever,” Kronk said. “That’s kind of cool that I’ve been a part of that.”
With many more trees yet to be planted – the students have a goal of planting 300 trees in the grove – Grad Grove will eventually expand across the section of grass lining the forest perimeter. After years of care, the small saplings will become strong oak trunks, crowned in a canopy of leaves.
Mia Fischel writes for TheReportingProject.org, the nonprofit news organization of Denison University’s Journalism program, which is supported by generous donations from readers. Sign up for The Reporting Project newsletter here.